FedEx Injury Case Tests Tennessee’s “Act of God” Defense
# FedEx Injury Case Turns on an “Act of God”
A Tennessee workers’ compensation appeal involving FedEx Supply Chain centers on whether an employee’s injuries were caused by an “Act of God.” The available court materials identify the dispute but do not include enough of the opinion’s text to confirm the Appeals Board’s final ruling or the facts surrounding the accident.
Rafik Mikhail challenged a trial court order that found his injuries resulted from an “Act of God”—a legal phrase generally used for an extraordinary natural event that could not reasonably have been prevented. That finding matters because Tennessee workers’ compensation coverage typically depends on whether an injury arose from the employee’s work, rather than solely from an outside force.
The Appeals Board had to examine whether the trial court correctly applied that defense and whether Mikhail’s injuries were sufficiently connected to his employment at FedEx Supply Chain. The materials provided do not state whether the Board affirmed, reversed, or sent the case back for further proceedings, so the precise impact of the decision cannot be confirmed without the full opinion.
For trucking, warehouse, and logistics employers, the case highlights the importance of documenting how workplace injuries happen—particularly when weather, natural conditions, or other unusual events may have played a role. The outcome could affect how employers and injured workers argue over whether an incident was truly work-related or instead caused by an uncontrollable outside event.
**Bottom Line:** The case tests how far Tennessee workers’ compensation law reaches when nature may be blamed for a workplace injury.
Would an “Act of God” defense make sense in a similar trucking or warehouse accident?
https://www.courtlistener.com/opinion/10957541/mikhail-rafik-v-fedex-supply-chain-inc/
